Image caption
The digester would have been located on land adjacent to Gedling Country Park

Plans for a £12m food waste energy plant next to a country park in Nottinghamshire have been withdrawn.

Tamar Energy wanted to build an anaerobic digester in Gedling, but opponents said it would create heavy traffic and "nightmare smells".

More than 600 people objected to the plant in a county council consultation.

The firm said the cost of additional environmental impact studies would make the project, proposed for a former coal pit, too expensive.

'Sent to landfill'

Terry Lock, chairman of the Friends of Gedling Country Park, said he was "absolutely delighted" by the decision, adding :"The idea behind anaerobic digesters is very good but the location for this one was utterly wrong."

He said the impact on the local water supply, traffic and the country park were "not thought through" by Tamar Energy.

The digester would have become "a nightmare" if problems developed and the smell from the facility had to be vented from buildings, he said.

A Tamar spokesman said: "The facility would have been a reliable source of green energy for as many as 6,000 homes for the next 30 years.

"At the moment, much of Nottinghamshire's food and other organic waste from homes, restaurants, schools and hospitals is sent to landfill, where it releases methane gas that harms the atmosphere," the spokesman said.

Tamar Energy had argued that odours from the plant would have been removed by a bio-filter system and a system of ductwork and fans.